The first bad day that I have had in quite awhile is winding down, and it is ending on a happy note. The Birds and I are sitting together in our media room watching one of the Bourne movies. It is amazing how fast they have grown, and how much they like these types of action movies. There is so much that I am excited about in life, and there is a great deal that I want to get accomplished this week. I have brushed upon my four focuses (my quadrants of life) – kids, health, career and friends in earlier posts. I want to spend a little time each weekend thinking about the week ahead and focusing on what is important to me. I will be traveling to two different cities next week, and school starts the following week. The next few weeks pose the opportunity to be highly productive or overwhelming. I have decided to make a checklist of things that I want to do next week (not a traditional to do list), rather a list of behaviors and actions that will help me be highly productive rather than overwhelmed. In time, I think that I will be able to adjust and refine this of behaviors and actions to achieve my lofty goals in life.
Kids – Build their independence and free up time for fun rather chores and errands:
- Have Brainy Bird prepare himself for school by buying his supplies online and organizing his study on his own.
- Have Little Chirp plan and cook two meals for the family on his own.
- Take time out of the work day on Thursday for meet the teacher and schedule pick up
Health – Maintain both physical and mental health:
- Attempt to set a new best time for a one mile run.
- Keep my “self talk” positive and focused on what is important
- Take an hour out of each day to sit down for a meal and reflect on my responses to the events in my day.
Career – Increase output of deliverables and free up time to further relationships:
- Delegate 5 deliverables, allowing the delegates to help define the deliverable rather than just following a rigid set of my instructions
- Get a head start on the week with eight hours of work on Sunday knocking out Monday’s deliverables and admin tasks
- Make five external contacts each day
Friends – Use my free time to spend time with those important to me:
- Pause before the sending of every text message among friends – Is it positive thoughts and energy that I am sending?
- Rather than my normal self talk on the drive into the office each morning, think about a different friend each morning and what is important to them.
- Make time for a restaurant week meal with close friends and the Birds.
It takes a lifetime to truly become disciplined and focused and to achieve the level of excellence that I seek. I hope to come out of this week having had a positive, productive week that includes time for those that I love. Over time I will learn what behaviors and actions on my list further my discipline and focus and which do not add value. I am looking forward to the new week that starts in 5 hours :).